Fire at transformer house in Helmond cuts power to 55 connections

What happened

A fire broke out in a transformer house on the Markesingel in Helmond on a Saturday afternoon in August 2025. Nobody was injured. The fire brigade was called shortly before 15:45 but had to wait before extinguishing the fire until a vehicle from the network operator, Enexis, had arrived. Enexis staff then switched off the power, after which the fire could be put out quickly. According to Enexis, 55 connections in the area were without electricity for 21 minutes. A neighbouring school experienced a longer outage. The source notes that because it was the school holiday, the disruption was limited.

Contributing factors

The source does not state the cause of the fire. The fire brigade could not begin extinguishing until the network operator had isolated the electrical supply.

Lessons learned

1. Fire crews attending electrical equipment should agree in advance with the network operator how and when the supply will be isolated, so that suppression is not delayed.
2. Transformer houses need clear, accessible isolation points and documented procedures for emergency services.
3. Operators should plan for the effect of an outage on nearby sensitive sites such as schools, which may be affected for longer than the wider network.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, worker safety and safe systems of work, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

omroepbrabant.nl